The present invention relates to forage harvesters and more particularly relates to a blower or impeller arrangement for receiving and delivering chopped forage.
It is well-known in forage harvesters to provide a blower or impeller for receiving chopped forage either directly from the cutterhead or from kernel processing rolls or an impeller or other forage moving apparatus located between the cutterhead and blower and for delivering the chopped forage to a forage collecting container such as the box of a wagon or truck, for example. In an attempt to minimize plugging, designers have advantageously located the blower so as to receive the chopped forage in a relatively thin mat flowing along the outer periphery of the cylindrical blower housing where the forage is engaged and accelerated upwardly by blades or paddles extending radially from the blower rotor. It has been found, however, that when relatively heavy slugs of forage enter the blower that some forage may be carried around by the rotor or some may through centrifugal force be tightly frictionally engaged with the blower housing wall or may even become wedged between the outer edges of the blades or paddles and the blower housing wall resulting in a large amount of energy being required to impel the crop.